Converting Yeasted Recipes To Sourdough

Once we have a new tool, we look for all sorts of ways to use it. So, many new
sourdough converts want to convert their old recipes to sourdough. I've seen
two ways to do this. Both work quite well, but they are very different. The
first technique is stolen from Joan Ross' web page, who stole it from Sourdough
Jack, who used to sell his own sourdough culture.

Sourdough Jack's Technique To Convert Your Recipes to Sourdough

This basic method (with some of my (Joan's) changes) comes from Sourdough
Jack's Cookery (1959) and is a reliable technique that will turn your favorite
bread recipe (buns, breads etc.) into a very good sourdough one. You must have
a good reliable
starter.
Try your favorite one loaf recipe such as white,
anadama, oatmeal or any yeast white flour bread recipe (or buns and rolls ).
All come out very well.

1. Place one
cup
of your favorite
active sourdoughstarter
in a large bowl with
about 2/3 of the total flour called for in your recipe. Add all the
milk
or
water to make a stirable thick batter. You don't want a dough but a batter.

2. Cover the bowl and set aside the mixture in a warm place for 14 to 16 hours.
The longer it stands, the more sour it gets. This sponge mixture will get
bubbly and light.

3. Now add all the additional ingredients (such as salt, sugar,
oil,
eggs etc.)
called for in your recipe except the remaining flour. Do not include any yeast
or baking soda- omit them! Please trust your
starter.
If the
starter
is bubbly and active, the recipe will turn out OK.

4.Add the remaining flour, mix and knead well by hand, adding additional flour
only if needed to make a soft pliable non-sticky dough. The dough will be smooth and
elastic but just a bit softer than your typical yeast dough recipes.

5. Let the dough rest 10 minutes, covered.

6. Form your dough into a loaf (or loaves) and place dough in the pan(s) or
make loaves the way your recipe instructs.

7. Let the dough rise, to the tops of the pan(s) or until light and puffy in a
warm place. Patience - this takes much longer than standard yeast dough recipes!

8. Bake and cool as your recipe instructs. Your bread should have a nice soft
interior, a good chewy crust and that special sourdough taste.

Mike's Simplistic Conversion Technique

A cup of
active sourdough
starter has about the same
rise
potential as a package of yeast. So, substitute a cup of starter for each
package of yeast and then subtract about 1/2 cup of water and 3/4 cup of flour
from the recipe to compensate for the
water
and flour in the starter. You'll probably want to
play with the ratio between the flour and water, and adjust the amount of riser
to get the results you want, but this rule of thumb is a good starting point.